Games Technology BSc Multimedia Computing BSc Creative
Computing BSc
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The Problem Engagement and retention issues caused by... Poor
transition from school ICT to Computer Science in HE Particularly
pronounced in Creative Computing subjects where applicants have
specific expectations about the content creation elements which
they perceive as central to the subject
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Although I did enjoy the majority of my modules the maths and
programming were much harder than I had imagined. I had no real
problems with the course other than I was really caught off guard
by how hard it turned out to be. I probably wouldnt change anything
with the course I just feel it wasnt right for me exit interview
with a withdrawing 1 st year student
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Activity-led learning Faculty driven initiative generalised
adaption of problem based learning: Learning by doing First year
students start their course with a 6 or 7 week practical activity
all traditional delivery is suspended for this duration courses
Start with a bang!
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Creative Six Week Challenge 2009 Program, build, test and
market a working media player
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Creative Six Week Challenge 2010 3D Etch-a-Sketch Working in a
group of six people, for a period of six weeks, you are to produce
a working digital device a 3D etch-a-sketch - that you have
collectively programmed, built the hardware for, user tested and
marketed on the Internet (having produced a viral video and
conducted Google analytic visitor tracking). For good measure, you
will present a short academic paper detailing your activities over
the six weeks at a specially organised symposium at the end of the
challenge.
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Our aims... By introducing students to the range of elements
that make up the course, we hope that they are better able to
assess quickly what the coming three years will involve. By working
in small groups alongside and supported by the teaching team,
students are rapidly introduced to our academic community -
developing first-name relationships is a central part of our
engagement strategy. By focussing on the production of artefacts
students are introduced to the practical nature of their subject
and, hopefully, realise that their learning is expected to be
active and productive. There are clear teaching and learning
benefits to engaging in integrated activities over individual
module delivery.
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Monday + Tuesday guided discovery Wednesday Group Self- managed
activities Thursday Group Self- managed activities Friday Delivery
/ presentation Monday Challenge briefing Ad hoc support The week
cycle
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Student teams deliver a brief presentation to the whole group
at the end of each week. After six weeks of regular presentations
and product demonstrations students have developed a great deal of
confidence.
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The presentations become an arena where the groups compete in
terms of the features and capabilities of their product. Indeed,
this competitive atmosphere drives student effort and engagement,
allowing us to forego assessment as a means of motivation.
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Outcomes The introduction of the Six Week Challenge has
coincided with a significant improvement in first year student
retention on our courses. In the current academic year we have
suffered no early withdrawals and expect our year one retention
figure to be over 90%. After the activity students appear amenable
to more rapid delivery of content and more challenging tasks. Asked
if they would recommend this type of learning to other students 98%
of the 2009 group agreed that they would
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Discussion points The activity involved 6 academics and 2
teaching assistants working intensively with a cohort of 60
students. It is unclear how well this activity would scale up for
larger groups. Student expectations are significantly higher at the
end of the six week activity, in terms of pace and direction of
their course. Management of these expectations can be problematic
as the students return to more traditional classroom formats. There
is significant up-front preparation time implied by pursuing a
student-centred and activity-led approach. This is unavoidable.
Given a challenging and interesting task, assessment is not
necessary to force engagement. Without assessment, students are
much less concerned with getting the right answer and instead focus
on finding the best one. Implementing assessments may alter the
dynamic of the activity.